Kostya Kavutskiy of the LA Vibe covers the 2010 US Chess League Championship match between the New England Nor'Easters and the Miami Sharks, held on November 20th.
FM Christopher Chase (NE) vs. FM Charles Galofre 1-0
This was the final position on Board 3 in the 2010 USCL
Championship match between the New England Nor'easters and the Miami Sharks.
Disastrously, FM Galofre was unable to make it to the match because of
unexpected car trouble, giving New England a forfeit win on the third board.
Obviously this put a very large thorn in Miami's side, who was unable to
overcome the early deficit.

The New England Nor'easters won the match 3-1, thanks to
Super-IMs Sam Shankland and Robert Hungaski who defeated GM Julio Becerra and
FM Marcel Martinez on boards 1 and 2. The one bright spot for Miami in this
match was board 4 youngster Nicholas Rosenthal, who upset NM Alex Cherniack.
Rosenthal has won 4 games in a row now against considerably higher rated
opposition, and deservedly won the Postseason Endgame Clothing Upset Prize.
Here are the games in the match, which were quite
interesting:

IM Sam Shankland (NE) - GM Julio Becerra (MIA)

1.d4
g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Be3
5.h3 is the main line5...dxe4
5...Bg4
is more common, taking advantage of the fact that White didn't play h3.
6.Nxe4
Nf6
6...Nd7 was played in Pruess, D - Becerra, J - 2008 <--perhaps this
was part of Shankland's preparation? 7.Nxf6+ exf6
7...Bxf6?! would be
inadvisable due to 8.Bh6.
8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.c4+=
White
has a better structure, more space and easier development, which makes the
position overall easier to play.
10...Na6 11.Qd2 Bf8 12.Rfd1 Bf5 13.a3 Nc7
14.Rac1 Be4 15.Ne1 b5?!
This
move does not work out in the complications, but I'm guessing GM Becerra knew
he had to win on this board if Miami was going to have any chance in the match,
therefore justifying this risky decision.
16.d5! bxc4
The best
continuation is 16...cxd5 17.cxb5 Qd7 18.a4 Bd6 19.Nf3 and White has a large
advantage. 17.dxc6 Qxd2 18.Rxd2 Nd5 19.Rxc4 Nxe3 20.fxe3 Bh6 21.Nc2 Rac8
22.Bf3 Bxc2 23.Rdxc2 Bxe3+ 24.Kf1
We're
left with an interesting endgame, which was reached with best play after
15...b5. White has a very strong passed pawn on c6 and the potential to create
a second passed pawn on the queenside. Black's only hope is to trade rooks and
try to hold the ensuing opposite colored bishop endgame, where perhaps he can
blockade White's pawns on the queenside and try to create a passed pawn of his
own on the queenside. 24...Bb6
c7 was threatened, followed by Bb7 25.Rd2
Red8 26.Ke2 f5 27.a4 Kf8 28.b4 Rxd2+ 29.Kxd2 Rd8+ 30.Kc2 Bc7 31.h3 h5 32.a5 Ke7
33.Kb3 Rd3+ 34.Rc3 Rxc3+ 35.Kxc3 Bg3 36.Kc4 Kd6?!
Perhaps
the losing mistake, because I don't see a way to stop the plan that White
employed in the game. 36...Be1!? might be a better try after 37.Kb5 Kd6 38.Bd5
f6 39.Bf7 g5 40.Bxh5 Bc3 and I think this would be difficult to win--Black can
still create a passed pawn on the kingside and for the time being has stopped
White's pawns. 37.b5 Bf2 38.Bd5 h4 39.Bxf7 g5 40.Bd5 g4 41.b6 axb6 42.a6!
b5+ 43.Kxb5 Ba7 44.Bb3 Kc7 45.Bd1 gxh3
45...g3 46.Bc2 f4 47.Be4 Kd6 48.Kc4
Bb6 49.Bf3 Be3 50.Kd3 Ba7 51.Ke2 and White wins. 46.gxh3 f4 47.Bf3 Bf2
48.Kc4 Kd6 49.Kd3 Kc7 50.Bd5 Bb6 51.Ke4 Bc5 52.Kxf4 Kb6 53.Kg4 Bd6 54.Kxh4 Kxa6
55.Kg5 Be7+ 56.Kg4 Kb6 57.h4 Bd8 58.h5 Kc5 59.Kf5 1-0

Black ran out of
time here, but the game is over--one of White's pawns will queen.FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) - IM Robert Hungaski (NE)

1.e4
c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0-0 Qc7 7.Qe2 d6 8.f4!?
FM
Martinez chooses to gain space on the kingside early in the game, always
leaving the option of the e5/f5 advance. 8.c4 followed by Nc3 and Rd1 is the
main line for this position.
8...g6 9.c4 Bg7 10.Nc3 0-0 11.Kh1 b6 12.Nf3
Nc6N
12...Bb7 was played in De Firmian, N - Serper, G in the 2000 US
Championship.
13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Rae1 Nd7
The
maneuvering begins, White should try to prepare an advance on the kingside
while Black will look for counterplay on the queenside.
15.Bb1 Rae8 16.b3
Qb8 17.Qf2 b5!? 18.cxb5 axb5 19.Bd3
19.Nxb5 Ba6 20.a4 Bxb5 21.axb5 Qxb5
Black will have counterplay against the b3-pawn and in the center.
19...Ba6
20.Qe2 Nb4 21.Bb1
21.Bxb5
Nxa2 22.Bxa6 Nxc3 23.Qe3 Nc5 24.Bxc3 Bxc3 25.Qxc3 Nxa6 26.f5 Qc8 with equality.
21...Nc6 22.Bd3 Nb4 23.Bb1 Nc6 24.Bd3 Nc5 25.Bxb5 Bxc3 26.Bxa6 Bxd2 27.Nxd2
Qa8
27...Nb4 28.Bb5 Rc8 and Black has good pressure on the queenside as
compensation for the pawn.
28.Bc4 d5!29.Qf2
29.exd5 exd5 30.Qf2 Rxe1 31.Rxe1 Qxa2 and White has many weak points in his
position.
29...Qa5 30.exd5 exd5 31.Rxe8 Rxe8 32.Bxd5? The losing
mistake, after a well played game by White (32.f5! the point being that after
32...g5 (32...dxc4 33.fxg6+-) 33.Bxd5 Nd3 34.Qf3 Qxd2 35.Bxc6 Re3 as
played in the game, fails to36.Qd5 Re1 37.Qd8+ Kg7 38.f6+

1.e4
e6 2.d3 d5 3.Qe2!?
An interesting way to develop into the King's Indian
Attack.
3...dxe4
3...Nf6 is playable too. 4.dxe4 e5!? Black
chooses to transpose into an open structure, believing that giving White a free
move to play Qe2 is nothing to worry about. 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.c3
6.Qb5 would
have made my day. 6...Bd6 7.g3 Bg4 8.Bg2 h6 9.h3 Be6 10.0-0 Qd7 11.Kh2 g5!?
Black
has made his intentions clear--he will castle queenside and attack via
pawnstorm.
12.Nfd2!I like this maneuver by White, the knight on f3
would only be a hazard to White by inviting Black to play a quick g5-g4. The
knight on c4 can jumpstart White's future attack on the queenside.
12...Nge7?!
Perhaps better was 12...g4 13.h4 0-0-0 14.Nc4 Bc5 where after the natural
15.b4 Black has a nice simplifying trick with 15...Bxb4! 16.cxb4 Nd4 17.Nxe5
forced, as Qd3 loses to Nf3+, otherwise the knight on c4 is hanging 17...Nxe2
18.Nxd7 Nxc1 19.Rxc1 Rxd7.

Position after 19...Rxd7

Black is completely fine in the endgame; 12...0-0-0 looks stronger than the
text too--the basic idea is to move the bishop off the d-file and stop Rd1.
13.Nc4
Ng6?! I'm not sure how much the knight really does here, but later it
provides a spectacular sacrifice that unfortunately Black passed over (13...f5
14.Rd1 f4 gets Black's attack rolling but White's position is still to be
preferred.)
14.Rd1 0-0-0 15.Nba3±
Black's king position is just easier
to attack, with the only true defender being the Nc6, which can easily be pushed
away with b4-b5.
15...Qe7 16.b4 h5 17.Nxd6+ cxd6 18.Qe3 g4 19.b5 Nb8 19...gxh3
20.Bf1! (20.bxc6 hxg2 is unclear) 20...Nb8 21.Qxa7 would be close
to winning for White. 20.h4 Rhg8 21.Kg1 b6 22.Nc2?!
This
gives Black hope. 22.Qe2 would have stopped Black's potential sacrifice
22...Nxh4 23.gxh4 Qxh4 24.Be3 g3 25.Kf1±. 22...Kb7 22...Nxh4!! looks like Black's last chance 23.gxh4
Qxh4 24.Ne1 (24.Qe2 g3 25.fxg3 Rxg3 26.Ne1 Rdg8 27.Rd3 Rxd3 28.Nxd3 Qg3 and
Black is winning with threats of Bc4 and h5-h4-h3) 24...g3 25.Nf3 gxf2+
26.Qxf2 Qxe4...

Congratulations
again to the New England Nor'easters, who took the best regular season record
of all time and proved their dominance in the postseason.
Now the 2010 USCL Playoffs may be completed, but the season is not over! Stay tuned to uschessleague.com for more playoff recaps, as well as the very exciting Game Of The Year contest!